Lexar professional workflow hr2 review

Pricey, but may be on interest to some of the pros out there...http://www.storagerevi​ew.com …ional_workflow_​hr2_review

I enjoyed the review. I'd probably be getting one if I did weddings or a lot of video. I found this comment interesting:

Because the Professional Workflow HR2 has modular design, it has the ability to adapt to changing technology standards. When Lexar, or other companies, release new card formats and additional storage drives for the HR2 hub, users can easily swap in the newer technology making it a “future-proof” card reader.

Yet already they've upgraded the connection of the main storage hub to add thunderbolt 2 connectivity. Those with the hr1 hub are limited to USB3 connectivity. So the modules can be upgraded without much expense, but not the hub. It's nice that the modules can be used outside of the hub with USB3 connectivity. It's a nice product, but economical only to those with large amounts of data- but, then again, that's who it's aimed at.

Pretty cool but does anyone really need a card read that is that big or needs to be futureproofed that much when basic card USB 3.0 card readers that will read everything that the Lexar will can be had for $10?

I don't really get what they were going for with this design either. For the price I would much rather have a smaller fixed unit with a half a dozen CF slots, one that I could easily pack and carry along with my laptop. Something that I have yet to find as a standalone unit, but it is getting really tempting to buy a number of single CF card drives and cobble together my own solution.

The unit looks bulky, and I feel that it could have been done in a more graceful manner with stacking units that screwed together and fed into a base plate system.

Luckless wrote in post #17521454
I don't really get what they were going for with this design either. For the price I would much rather have a smaller fixed unit with a half a dozen CF slots, one that I could easily pack and carry along with my laptop. Something that I have yet to find as a standalone unit, but it is getting really tempting to buy a number of single CF card drives and cobble together my own solution.

The unit looks bulky, and I feel that it could have been done in a more graceful manner with stacking units that screwed together and fed into a base plate system.

You could take 6 modules, for example, and tape them together without the hub. You would have 6 detachable USB3 cords, though.

I don't understand how such a unit could be helpful. I shoot a card full of RAW images, stick the CF card into the $10 card reader that I bought at WalMart, click on "import photos", and the images download to my computer.

Every month or so I take the images worth saving and copy the RAW files to a portable hard drive. Takes a few minutes.

That's all there is to it.

I should mention that I do shoot professionally, and take well over 100,000 images a year. Yet I have never had any need whatsoever for anything beyond my $10 card reader and my portable hard drive backup system.

What kinds of workflows do other photographers have, that could possibly benefit from this contraption?

My workflow often uses multiple partially filled cards that are swapped throughout the day. If I'm photographing multiple games I will format all the cards before heading out, swap cards between each game, and then when I get home ideally I would set them to import and quickly keyword things. Currently I only have the one CF reader, which means I'm having to watch the computer and keep switching when things are done, so it either means I spend way longer at home importing cards, one after the other, or I have to setup on site and juggle importing one game's photos while I'm doing the next.

Having a card reader with half a dozen or so CF slots would make my work flow so much easier, as I could set a batch of stuff up for parallel loading and go do something else while paying less attention to that computer. However I've yet to find a sensible solution that makes for a clean portable device. Eventually I'll likely end up buying a small USB 3.0 hub and a bunch of compact CF drives that I can rip apart and solder back together so they fit into a compact enclosure. Should probably also try and sort out a custom controller so I can add indicator lights to show mounted/unmounted status.

Tom Reichner wrote in post #17522482
...What kinds of workflows do other photographers have, that could possibly benefit from this contraption?

Perhaps someone who has multiple shooters at at a sporting event and sells and prints photos on site. I would think video shooters who use more than one card would benefit too.

Tom Reichner wrote in post #17522482
What kinds of workflows do other photographers have, that could possibly benefit from this contraption?

If I am doing CFL games again this year, I will be picking one of these up. I often shoot with three bodies. When I have 12 mins. at half time to download, edit, caption and upload 8-10 photos, and then about 30 mins after the game to do the same for another 20-30 photos, every minute I can save downloading images from multiple cards simultaneously is worth it to me.

I have been using a triple lexar firewire setup, but thunderbolt would be even better.

I can see many NFL, CFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, etc. sports shooters giving this "contraption" a try.

Oh, I see. Some of you folks are shooting things in which the images need to be ready for clients in a hurry. It's hard for me to relate to that.......the way I sell, it really doesn't matter if I download & process today's images today, or tomorrow, or even next year. A few months delay will not affect sales at all. I carefully scrutinize each and every single image I take, then go thru a lengthy process of comparing it to all of the duplicate/similar images at 100%, so that I am sure of culling all of them except for the very, very best.

if you're having to turn images around so quickly, how do you ever have the time to ensure that every image is as perfect as possible? I mean, optimal editing can sometimes take quite a while, especially when extensive cloning is involved. Or is it that you don't really do a whole lot to the images? Are there people that really want to buy "as shot" photos? But what if there's a bit of noise in a dark, out of focus corner? What if there is some trash in the distant background? What if some small highlight areas are blown? What if there are mosquitoes or gnats buzzing around the subject's head? Etc, etc, etc. I just don't see how a such rapid-fire workflow is ever going to be able to ensure that only the very finest work gets produced.

It looks as if these people who have to supply images so quickly really need a WiFi solution that can download images as they take them.

In editorial work, it isn't about making sure every image is as perfect as possible. It is about documenting the moment. In fact, the only editing allowed is exposure/contrast/shar​pening/NR and cropping. Things like cloning out objects, or changing the placement of objects is expressly forbidden.

In editorial sports shooting, nowadays, it isn't always about having the best photo of a big play or celebration, but more important to get it out on the wire as soon as possible to be run by the news agencies. At the big games (championships) the shooters even have card runners. Who after a big play or important moment, run a shooters card to an editor for the quick edit and upload to the wires. Within just a minute or two after the winning score or victory celebration, the images are out there for the world to see on your favourite news source.

It is all about speed, which is a big reason why these Lexar readers exist.

BossBob wrote in post #17523263
It looks as if these people who have to supply images so quickly really need a WiFi solution that can download images as they take them.

That would be nice, but it doesn't really exist yet. Which is one reason why cameras like the 1DX have an ethernet port. The images from a sports shooter can be transferred instantly to an editor through a couple hundred feet of ethernet cable. Much more reliable than WiFi.

See the wires connected to a couple of the shooters cameras in this picture? http://www.gettyimages​.ca …/468902576?Lang​uage=en-GB

Their images are going directly to an editor as they take them. The other couple shooters have their card runners right behind them ready to take a card with a good image on it to an editor.

BossBob wrote in post #17523263
It looks as if these people who have to supply images so quickly really need a WiFi solution that can download images as they take them.

The problem with WiFi solutions is one of reliability, and workflow planning. Many sports venues are far from friendly to wireless signal transmission, and will suffer from extreme multipathing issues due to internal reflection as well as having general interference issues. This can become worse at the professional sports level when you then pack way more people trying to use such a network in an already less than ideal space. It would be nice if it worked well, but having dealt with wireless networking in various stadiums and similar structures... I would not be very quick to suggest it to a professional photographer. (Unless I really didn't like them.)


Even when you don't have to supply images quickly you can still wind up with a stack of cards with data that needs to be transferred. Video production for example can fill up a lot of cards in a hurry, and seems to be fairly common to use a 'change early' approach to cards. Having a card fill up in the middle of a take is going to suck.

Combine a workflow that ends up spreading data across a lot of cards with a work area that doesn't offer a secure or practical place to setup a computer to download from cards, and you easily end up in a situation where you can make use of a half dozen or more card readers at a time.